A String Figure Patch

  The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp presents Ecosystems, an exhibition on ecology and art. 20 October - 9 November 2023

With the exhibition ‘Ecosystems. Science – Art – Activism’ at the Lange Zaal, we bring historical and contemporary 'eco-art' into the school walls, not only as a source of inspiration, but also as food for critical thought, and as a stimulus for future artistic practices. We present printed matter from the Earth-, Land- and Eco-Art Era of the 1960s-1980s, as well as environmental work of Patricia Johanson, one of the first female artists making in situ works based on science and ecology. Further in the exhibition the ‘Portable Orchard’ by the eco-art pioneers The Harrisons is brought to life again in collabortation with students. We also look to the contemporary artistic research field at our Academy. Works of the artists Tim Theo Deceuninck, Mirja Busch, Jarek Lustych, Sascha Herrmann, Dries Segers, Eline De Clercq, Saskia Van der Gucht, Kristof Timmerman, Peter Lemmens and Jeroen Cluckers are on show. (Text by Roel Arekesteijn, ARTICULATE, 2023)

 

set up of the String Figure Patch within the exhibition Ecosystems

 

Garden Table, String Figure Patch, Artists publication

Eline De Clercq & Saskia Van der Gucht, a collaboration in artistic researches.
 

 

 

During ARTICULATE, the garden community of the Academy will have a garden table set up in the exhibition in the Lange Zaal. In 2022, Eline De Clercq started a community garden in the Academy’s old garden, where weekly sessions are organised with students and artists. This artistic research project on art and ecology functions as an informal learning environment about climate change, gender norms, decolonisation and intersectionalism.  
 

On the garden table you will find working texts, books, seeds, tools and more: a gathering of objects and ideas on what it means to work with nature within an artistic practice. On a small side table is the artist edition poster about last year's research 'The Sympoiesis Garden' printed with Track Report: a map of the start of this garden project with patches of words and a path for the reader to follow.    

 

On the floor in the middle of a string figure patch is a presentation of the work On Sand, three ceramic biotope dishes were made during a collaborative research project with Saskia Van der Gucht (researcher at Sint Lucas Antwerpen) and Eline De Clercq. These containers holds sand carried by the wind to Antwerp more than 10,000 years ago, during the most recent glacial time. With the help of archaeologists, the artists were able to retrieve this sand from the dig site in Antwerp’s Leftbank area, right at the heart of the PFAS pollution, buried under layers of land and history. The material holds aspects of care, habitation, touch and invisibility. In the clay receptacle the sand is once again given the opportunity to become a habitat for plants and animals. It’s not a reconstruction of the original fauna and flora, it’s a curiosity-fuelled ‘what if’ situation: the artists want to look after and care for the sand like a miniature nature reserve.  

 

 

You can visit the community garden via the Academy's main entrance at Mutsaardstraat. 

IG @royalacademyantwerpgarden